| Starting in July 1, 2007, ACGME created the Multidsciplinary Pain Medicine Fellowship to integrate the varied modalities of pain medicine, including chronic pain rehabilitation, cancer pain, acute pain, interventional pain, pediatric chronic pain, neurology, and psychiatry. The new fellowship is a collaborative effort from two of the main teaching centers at McGaw Medical Center- Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Dr. David Walega is the Program Director and Dr. Steven Stanos, the Program Director for the
Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Fellowship Program is the new Assistant Program Director for the Multidsciplinary Pain Medicine Fellowship. The fellowship offers five positions for a one-year appointment. All fellow candidates are interviewed by both directors, Drs. Walega and Stanos, in addition to other faculty. Four of the fellow positions will be filled from residents who graduated from an anesthesiology resindency program and one position will be filled from a resident who graduated from a physiatry residency program. Candidates can send in their application materials as soon as July 1 and interviews may began as soon as August 1 each year. For further information about the application and selection process, please click here. Faculty members from the Division of Pain Medicine and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago are recognized experts in pain medicine, regional anesthesia and rehabilitation. They are active in the American Society of Regional Anesthesia, the American Pain Society, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Academy of Physical Medince & Rehabilitation and the Midwest Pain Society. They are members of the editorial boards of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Clinical Journal of Pain, and MD Consult-Pain Medicine. The book Essentials of Pain Medicine and Regional Anesthesia is edited by Drs. Honorio T. Benzon and Robert E. Molloy. Several papers, abstracts, book chapters, and books have originated from the division. The Division of Pain Medicine operates postoperative pain management and inpatient chronic pain management. In the chronic pain management service, inpatient consults are seen at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH). In the Outpatient Anesthesiology Pain Medicine Center, patients are seen from 8:00 am-5:00 pm during the week. Fluoroscopy-assisted nerve blocks and interventional techniques are performed in one of two available fluoroscopy suites. In addition, there are four examination in addition to a four-bay recovery room. Fellows are also trained in pediatric pain medicine and multidisciplinary pain management, including psychological treatment, acupuncture, physical medicine, and surgical management.
Approximately 1,500 new consults and 2,000 follow-up visits are seen in the Anesthesiology Pain Medicine Center each year. In addition, more than 2,500 fluoroscopy-assisted injections are performed each year. These procedures include the epidural injections, nerve root and facet blocks, rhizotomies, discography, Intradiscal procedures, sacroiliac joint injections, pyriformis injections, sympathetic blocks, and neurolytic blocks. Fellows learn placements of spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal pumps from Dr. David Walega and Dr. Joshua Rosenow, a neurosurgeon at NMH.
In the acute postoperative pain management service, fellows gain proficiency in lumbar and thoracic epidural opioid infusions, patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA), intrathecal opioid injections, intravenous PCA, and peripheral nerve blocks for postoperative pain management and peripheral nerve catheritization. These blocks include interscalene, axillary, three-in-one blocks, and popliteal sciatic nerve blocks. Approximately 1,500 epidural opioid infusions are managed by the service every year. The Division of Pain Medicine presents three to four conferences to the anesthesiology department every year during Grand Rounds. Fellows are encouraged to present cases and moderate at these conferences. Fellows also attend monthy journal clubs, monthly morbidity conferences and quarterly research conferences throughout the year. Furthermore, there is a formal didactic program specifically for the fellows. Fellows are asked to participate in ongoing research projects or initiate their own studies. In the latter case, fellows learn how to write protocols, create proper research design, incorporate appropriate statistics, and write a paper with support from full time research staff within the department of anesthesiology. Occasionally, fellows are asked to collaborate in writing a book chapter. In addition to departmental benefits, the Pain Medicine fellows receive: 1. Northwestern University business cards 2. Memberships to the following professional societies: - American Pain Society (APS)
- American Society of Regional Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine (ASRA)
3. Funding for one continuing medical education meeting: - ASA
- ASRA
- Academic/research meeting
4. Funding for an additional Academic/Research meeting - Fellows who present an abstract at a national meeting/conference will receive funding for their trip, provided the Program Director approves the absence from training.
5. Drs. Benzon & Molloy's textbook: Essentials of Pain Medicine and Regional Anesthesia, 2005 6. $500 Educational Fund |
